Mt. Zion United Methodist celebrates 150 years of worship

Mt. Zion United Methodist Church will celebrate its 150th anniversary most of next week. There will be a slide show of Mt. Zion history plus an ice cream social July 10 at 7 p.m.

A music program with cookies and punch will be featured on July 11 at 7 p.m. Remembrances by former clergy will be served up with coffee and dessert on July 12 at 7 p.m.

After three nights of 7 p.m. events, there will be a change on July 13 when an old-fashioned turkey dinner will be served from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. To order dinner tickets or for more information go to http://www.mtzionhighland.com or call 301-854-2324.

The fun of an outdoor carnival comes to Mt. Zion on July 14 from 3 to 9 p.m. Worship services are at 9 and 11 a.m.

July 15 will close the celebrations when the Rev. Julian Tavenner will be the guest preacher.

Howard County attendance is growing at functions of the Frederick Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association.

The next meeting is Saturday, July 7 at the Manor House at Edenton Retirement Community, 5800 Genesis Lane, in Frederick, beginning at 10 a.m.

The program will be presented by Charleen Anderson, a well-known local American Sign Language interpreter and instructor. Charleen will give brief instruction on using American Sign Language in hopes all attendee will leave with some recognizable silent conversation skill.

This is useful to know. In an emergency, sign language can be important. All are welcome to attend this meeting.

Christ Lutheran Church invites children to enter a time machine and return to 1st Century Jerusalem. "Back to Jerusalem," a summer Bible camp for Pre-K-to-8th grade runs July 9-13 from 9 a.m.-noon.

Journey to Babylon and learn of Daniel's courage in captivity during vacation Bible school at Triadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church on Brighton Dam Road July 16-20 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Peggy Lee will be directing the program this year. She's hoping families will register in advance so she can be sure to have food and craft supplies in the right quantities.

Call 301-854-3678 to leave your name, number and ages of children.

Little acorns are not the only things that can and do grow into something big. Consider the third annual Amanda Post "Amanda Wins" River Hill High School Student-Athlete Scholarship and Amanda Post "Amanda Wins" Soccer Association of Columbia/Howard County Student-Athlete Scholarship, in memory of Amanda Josephine Post, who passed away in 2009 during her freshman year at RHHS and her ninth year of soccer.

The $5,000 scholarships help defray tuition and room and board costs for the recipient's freshman year of college. An additional scholarship was offered this year. Selections are made by the Columbia Foundation.

Student-athlete scholarships went to two students. Katherine Marlatt, a four-year varsity soccer and lacrosse player, will be attending the University of Oregon to study human physiology and physical therapy while playing Division 1 lacrosse. Katie and Amanda were close friends and played together since first year.

Oliver Zhao, a four-year varsity tennis player, was the other recipient. Oliver will be attending the University of Maryland, College Park, to study materials science engineering.

The "Amanda Wins" Soccer scholarship went to Gillian Sawyer, a graduate of Wilde Lake and 12-year SAC player. She will be attending St. Mary's College of Maryland to major in biology and minor in women's studies.

With these three recipients, Amanda's fund has now awarded $50,000 to ten students. To learn more, go to http://www.columbiafoundation.org/receive/scholarships.

Congratulations to the Creig Northrop Team of Long & Foster Real Estate. It have been ranked No. 1 for team volume on this year's Top 1,000 Real Estate Professionals by the Wall Street Journal for the second year in a row.

The team's closed transaction volume for 2011 was $325,609,732, topping No. 2 Corcoran Group of New York by over $25 million. .